Southwestern and Newmont Sign Venture Agreement to Explore in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, China.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Southwestern Resources Corp. (TSX:SWG) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Southwest Minerals Inc., has signed a Venture Agreement with Newmont Overseas Exploration Limited, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC), to explore an area of approximately 76,000 square kilometres in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, China. The area of interest will be explored for several types of mineralization, including porphyry copper-gold and a new type of gold mineralization recently discovered in the southeast part of the Project area. Southwestern initiated the program within the area of interest several months ago and to date, over 1,000 stream sediment samples have been collected. Several important anomalies have already been delineated and exploration concessions have been applied for over these areas. Southwestern will remain initially as the operator of the Venture Project.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Southwestern and Newmont each have a 50% interest and contribute to the programs on a pro rata basis. Once mineralization of potential economic significance is discovered, Newmont has two options to increase its working interest on any specific area. The first option allows Newmont to increase its interest by 10% by fully funding a bankable feasibility study. The second option allows Newmont to increase its interest by a further 10% (total 70%) by arranging all funding to put a deposit into commercial production. Under the second option, Newmont is entitled to receive 90% of Southwestern's share of the dividends or distributions until Newmont is reimbursed the equivalent of all Southwestern's share all costs previously funded by Newmont, plus interest on such costs at LIBOR plus 3%, that Newmont incurred subsequent to the delivery of the feasibility study until the commencement of production.

John Paterson, President stated "Our Joint Venture with Newmont brings in a strong partner with the financial and technical capabilities to advance this Project."

Quality Control

Southwestern has implemented a quality control program to ensure best practice in lithogeochemical sampling. Fieldwork is being supervised and carried out by Sinorex consultants of Beijing.

Samples are shipped directly in security sealed bags to the assay laboratory of the Northwest Non-Ferrous Geology Research Institute (ISO 9002) located in Xian, Shaanxi Province, China. Certain samples will also be shipped to Australia for analysis.

Exploration samples are analyzed by conventional methods at the Xian Laboratory and are digested in an aqua regia acid digestion and gold, silver, copper, nickel, arsenic, molybdenum, antimony, lead, zinc, cobalt, chrome and bismuth are analyzed by atomic absorption. Samples will also be analyzed by Newmont using its Bleg expertise.

Southwestern submits its own standards as a measure of the accuracy of the analysis. Field duplicates and pulp duplicates are routinely analyzed for precision at ALS Chemex located in Vancouver, BC. ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000 registered laboratory and is preparing for ISO 17025 certification.

The exploration program is being carried out by John Zhang, Project Manager and John Paterson, President, Southwestern Resources Corp., (Member, AUSIMM and the qualified person for the Project).

Southwestern Resources Corp. is exploring in several countries for precious and base metals, including the Boka Gold Project in China with Team 209 and the Liam Gold-Silver Project in Peru with Newmont Peru Limited. The Company has a number of significant joint ventures.

Statements in this release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Corporation's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.